Humans Vs. Robots - Tumblr Posts

This is going to sound really funny, but i remember Reading one manwha that was exacly about that! The name was concubine walkthrough, It's really good and has Very interesting arguments. It's slow but If you have the pacience i suggest you read It!

Do Robots Deserve Rights?

By: Hydra 🐍

I want to start this post by firmly stating: I AM NOT SCARED OF ROBOTS!! Except maybe that AI Robot named Sophia… I am just simply unsettled. Maybe it is because I enjoy immersing myself into a good science fiction book, movie, or video game? For example, my favourite solo player video game is Detroit Become Human. The game follows three different androids, all in which have different jobs but act as a type of servant for an owner. Throughout the game you are faced with prejudice, which ultimately leads you to have to choose between breaking the programming and becoming a deviant (gaining a consciousness of one’s own), or continuing to live as a slave to an other.

If roboticist Alan Winfield is correct with his statement: “Real robotics is a science born out of fiction,” (2011, 32) how are we to assume that robots gaining consciousness will not be a relevant topic in the near future? I mean we have a A LOT of fictional media existing around the idea of such topic (M3gan, Black Mirror, I Am Mother). In my opinion, scientist should be more focused on creating the flying cars from Back to the Future instead of frenzying over the next trendy artificial intelligence. Imagine never having to worry about sitting in rush hour traffic EVER AGAIN.

I realize the whole idea that “robots will take over the world one day” may seem comical to some, but If you really think about it, this notion is already in motion (hehehe that one made me feel like a white dad). The man of the moment himself, David J. Gunkel says, “Despite what is imaginatively foretold in fiction, the robot invasion is not coming from the future. The robots are already here. Like the “barbarians” that were said to have invaded Rome, we have already invited the robots into our places of work, into our homes, and into our lives. They are already all around us, even if we often do not see or identify them as such” (Gunkel 7).

I will assume you are human if you are reading this, and therefore I will also assume you have been inside a grocery store (considering you must consume food to survive). Well this being said, have you noticed the progression of self checkouts becoming more and more frequent? It’s so simple to go in and scan all your items, letting the machine do the brunt of the work for you. Or maybe you are a little more bougie and have experienced the cat robots of sushi places that act as a substitute for servers… IS THIS NOT AN EXAMPLE OF ROBOTS ALREADY BEING HERE AND RELEVANTLY USED?? That was a rhetorical question because OF COURSE IT IS. Even in the comfort of our own home we rely on robotic devices like Amazon’s ‘Alexa’ or Apple’s ‘Siri’ to turn on/off lights, answer questions, set alarms, etc.

So how did we get here? If we think about famous french philosopher Gilles Deleuze’s essay “Postscript on the Societies of Control,” Deleuze argues, “This technological evolution must be, even more profoundly, a mutation of capitalism […]” (Deleuze 4). This would make sense given the examples above, because these robotic machines tend to replace human jobs and duties. Robots don’t require a paycheck like people do. Therefore, the capitalist win once again. Human Kind: 0, Capitalism: 1,000,000,000.

Since it is evident we are living in a time that depends heavily on robots and technology for everyday use, I would like to bring up another question raised in Gunkel’s book: “Can and should robots have rights?” This question really perplexed me. At first, my obvious answer was ‘no.’ Robots are already taking away jobs from people who actually need to make money in order to survive. How can a machine need rights equal to those of humans? They do not have consciousness and souls (as far as I know)! That question’s ridiculous right? But then I think back to my favourite video game and how gut wrenching it felt having to play as an android with no rights or freedom of speech. I feel a little more tempted to say yes to Gunkel’s question after that, but I just don’t have it in me to place technology over living, breathing, flesh.

Should we be more empathetic and moralistic towards technological beings such as robots? Or is it more important to value our own human rights, especially considering that is a questionable topic in it’s own?